Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Lots of lists and how-tos in this week's links, including Eat Me Daily’s fall cookbook preview, The Kitchn’s guide to $20 group dinners, and a triumvirate of healthy goodness from Chow. Take it away, internets…

5 Second Rule: AdvocateInterview with Dr. Susan Rubin, founder of Bettter School Food, which is at the forefront of the Make School Lunches Less Sucky for Kids movement. Informational. Inspiring. Anti-Monsanto. (Thanks to Casual Kitchen for the link.)

Casual Kitchen: The Food Spending Poll - Results and ConclusionsDan ran an informal poll by his readers, and found that we spend 5 percentage points more on food than the U.S. average. We’re #1! We’re #1! (Um, but seriously – check out the stat breakdown. Eyebrow-raising stuff that could be attributed to us foodblog readers’ natural interest in cooking.)

Chow: 10 Beginner CookbooksExpected: Joy of Cooking, How to Cook Everything, How to Boil Water.Unexpected: Cooking with Jamie, Starting with Ingredients, The Joy of Mixology. Mmm … ologies.

Chow: Whole Grains 101From A (amaranth) to W (wheat berries), this guide to common grains could be even handier than that pepper thing I just posted. P.S. Has anyone out there tried Kamut? I’ve never even heard of it before. It sound like a Dungeons & Dragons warlord.

Eat Me Daily: Fall Cookbook PreviewOf special note: Pioneer Woman’s inaugural tome (yay!), Alton Brown’s first book about Good Eats (double yay!), and Michael Psilakis’ book on updated Greek classics. If any of his recipes came from Kefi (one of his NYC restaurants), it’s gonna be good.

Jezebel: Why is Normal Eating So Hard to Define?The Jezzies analyze a recent New York Times blog post, which defines “normal eating” in one of the best ways I’ve ever read: “Normal eating is going to the table hungry and eating until you are satisfied. It is being able to choose food you like and eat it and truly get enough of it-not just stop eating because you think you should. Normal eating is being able to give some thought to your food selection so you get nutritious food, but not being so wary and restrictive that you miss out on enjoyable food. Normal eating is giving yourself permission to eat sometimes because you are happy, sad or bored, or just because it feels good. Normal eating is mostly three meals a day, or four or five, or it can be choosing to munch along the way. It is leaving some cookies on the plate because you know you can have some again tomorrow, or it is eating more now because they taste so wonderful. Normal eating is overeating at times, feeling stuffed and uncomfortable. And it can be undereating at times and wishing you had more. Normal eating is trusting your body to make up for your mistakes in eating. Normal eating takes up some of your time and attention, but keeps its place as only one important area of your life.” More on this tomorrow…

The Kitchn: 10 Ways to Feed 10 People for Less Than $20As Labor Day Weekend creeps up on us, we’re likely A) running out of money, and B) entertaining a large group of people angry over going back to school/ending their vacation/running out of health insurance. The Kitchn has the remedy, with fantastic suggestions for substantive party meals.

Newsweek: America’s War on the OverweightComplex, interesting article about changing national sentiment regarding the obese. Is the anger ingrained in our culture? Is it self-loathing? Is it anger over health care bills? Read and ponder.